Kajol admits that she wanted to play Rani Mukerji’s role in KKHH!

Kajol won the hearts of millions with her portrayal of the tomboyish Anjali in Karan Johar’s ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’. The 1998 film starred Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji as Rahul and Tina, respectively.

In a new interview with Rajeev Masand’s ‘Netflix Actors’ Roundtable’, however, Kajol shared that she wanted to play Rani’s role in the film, but Karan Johar didn’t give in to her request. For her performance in the film, Kajol even won a Filmfare Award for ‘Best Actress’.

In the roundtable, Kajol said, “I fought in ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’. I fought with Karan Johar as I wanted to play Tina’s role and he was like, ‘No. You are playing Anjali’. I was like, ‘But I want to play Tina’s role. You don’t know what I will do with Tina’. Karan told me to shut up. I fought with him tooth and nail for 45 minutes, but he refused categorically.”

Kajol and Rani were guests in a recent episode of ‘Koffee with Karan’ Season 8, where host Karan Johar talked about memories of the film. In the episode, Karan breached the topic of how the two actors don’t share a very close relationship. Kajol said, “It was an organic distance and where work is concerned, I think it’s more that both of us liked where we were.”

On the other hand, Rani said, “Because I have known her as a kid and she was Kajol didi for me, it was a bit strange. I guess when you grow apart, you really don’t know the reason why because you don’t meet that often. Kajol didi used to stay in town and we were in Juhu. Me and Tanisha were much closer and we are still. But Kajol didi was always closer to the boys in the family. So, it was a bit strange.”